THE HALF THE WORLD

curtain. Meanwhile the Shah grimly prepared a cauldron
of boiling oil, and addressed the offending lover:

"Come forth. I want your poison/5

"I will administer it to myself," replied the culprit, as
he jumped into the oil.

During the seventeenth century, in the centre of the
square stood a mast, a hundred and twenty feet high. The
young men would shoot with bow and arrow at a cup set
thereon. When the king took part, a golden goblet was
placed on the top, at which he shot an arrow as he rode at
full speed, turning round to aim after he had passed.

From the Ali Qapu, Shah Abbas used to watch lions,
bears, and cocks fight each other in the arena. He owned
fighting^, rams and frequented gymnasia. Another sport
was for young bloods to divide into two groups, each
member armed with a dart three cubits long. Two players
galloped off, pursued by the rest who aimed spears at them.
The forward party would either catch the spears, or dodge
them by slipping under the horse's belly; aU at full gallop.
They hunted the wild ass, still to be found a hundred
miles north of Isfahan; also panthers and "ounces," a kind
of small leopard. On horseback they chased and shot
ibex and mouflon.

"Hawking was a favourite sport," volunteered Rumi.
"A falcon was trained to pounce upon a hare, one of the
falcon's legs dragging along the ground until the claws
caught on to a firm tuft of grass. Leather breeches pre-
vented the bird from being torn in two. Another version
of the chase was for the hunter to slip the dogs, which
singled a buck from its fellows. The hawks, trained with
great patience to work with man and dog, then darted at
the eyes of the quarry, impeding its progress until the dogs
caught up and killed it, unless the buck was anointed
with the oil of resuscitation and rose as a bird from the
snare of the fowler."

He went on to tell us that cherkh hawk was used to

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